The Plate
by OriginalCopy
Summary: After Tony's behaviour gets out of control, Pepper gives him a budget and cuts him off from the rest of him money. He manages to get himself a flat and a room mate and seems to be doing okay on his own, but when Pepper comes over for dinner she gets the feeling he's hiding something. What is it and how does she find out? One-shot.


"Tony your new place is wonderful" Pepper admired the interior walking through the new apartment. "Maybe it's a good idea I cut you off for a while" she smiled deviously behind her glass of wine. After Tony had payed for his pool to be filled with champayne and invited several women, none of which she recognised, over to swim in it, she knew something had to be done. Alas, she had cut him off and gave him a budget to get a place to live, and money for living expenses each month until he had learnt his lesson. After almost a month of angry phone calls from various pay phones, he had finally settled down into a two bedroom flat on the lower east side of New York. Once the air was cleared between the two of them, he had insisted she come over for dinner.

"Well, I'm not saying I'm happy you did it, but it did teach me a few things" he smirked slightly, patting her on the shoulder as a silent thank you.

"And where is your room mate?" she asked, taking a seat on the sofa.

"He should be back in a moment, he went to the shop for..." a look of confusion came over him, but he simply ignored it with a wave of his hand. "Some kind of food I think"

"Wonderful, what are we having?" she asked, resting her glass on one of the coasters on the coffee table, obviously an addition from his roomate.

"I think there's noodles involved" Tony quirked an eyebrow as he tried to remember. As if on queue the door could be heard opening as a Blonde man entered the apartment with a brown paper bag in one arm. He smiled as he saw her in the living room. She quickly looked him over, and she was impressed. He was well built, attractive in every meaning of the word, and seemed nice enough.

"Hello" the roomate said as he put the bag down in the kitchen and approached her, a hand held out. "I'm Steve Rogers. You must be Pepper Potts" he smiled as she stood and shook his hand.

"I am, I suppose Tony has mentioned me" she sat back down, picking up her glass as a she gave Tony a look of uncertanity. What had he told him? After what happened she couldn't imagine it being particularly positive comments.

"Yeah, he has, and don't worry" he must have picked up on her expression. "It's only nice things I've heard. It's great to finally meet you" he flashed a reassuring smile before returning to the kitchen, speaking as he walked. "Dinner will be ready in a minute"

"Great" Pepper stood walking into the kitchen with Tony close behind. "Can I do anything to help?"

"No, I don't think so. You could open a bottle of wine for the table if you like" he pointed toward a wine rack with a wooden spoon.

She selected one she recognised, opening it as Steve dished out some food.

"I hope you like Stir-fry" Steve said, placing plates infront of the two of them before grabbing one for himself and sitting down.

"Wow, this is amazing" Pepper said after taking a bite. "Where did you learn to cook, Steve?"

"My grandma taught me when I was young. These plates actually belonged to her" he pointed toward the white china plates they were eating on. "They're from Singapore"

"You really have a talent for it" Tony added. "The most I can manage is cereal"

Steve chuckled lightly, taking a bit of his food.

"Tell me about it. This one time he set fire to the microwave making popcorn" Pepper smirked in his direction, and Steve chuckled again behind his hand.

"Admittedly, I was drunk" he pointed a fork accusingly, betrayed by the smile on his face. "And some of it was alright"

"Believe me it wasn't" Pepper laughed, accidentally knocking her knife on the floor. She apologized immediatley and leant down to pick it up. She located the silverware quickly and was about to stand up when she noticed something.

...Were Steve and Tony playing footsie?

She stood up, a little disorietated and Steve insisted he get her a new knife. She composed her face and sat down as Steve returned with another knife and sat down too, pouring a glass of wine.

"So Steve" Pepper tried to forget by changing the subject. "What do you do for a living?"

* * *

"Thank you very much for having me" Pepper said to Steve, shaking his hand again.

"I'll walk you down" Tony closed the door and descended the stairs next to Pepper. "So" he said once they were out of earshot. "I'm doing pretty well huh?"

"I didn't know you swung that way" Pepper smirked, her grin widening at Tony's shocked espression.

"What?" was all he managed before Pepper continued.

"Steve. You're 'involved' with him aren't you?" she air quoted, pushing her handbag up onto her shoulder.

Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "What? No! And what do you mean I don't go that way?"

"Well in all the years I've worked for you I've seen that many girls coming and going I lost count. Well, there was one guy, but you were so drunk and he had long hair so I presumed you thought it was a girl. Plus, the last and only lasting relationship you had was with me, and as far as I am aware, I am female"

He chuckled slightly as they came to the street, the fresh air cold on their exposed skin. "Pepper, I _am _bisexual, but I'm not sleeping with Steve" he corrected while they approached the car that had been sent for her.

"Ok, I believe you" she nodded.

Tony held out his hand, as if to shake but Pepper pulled him into a hug.

"I'll contact you soon. I'm very proud of you" she rubbed his arm reassuringly before climbing into the car.

* * *

"Tony, we're missing a plate" Steve shouted into the apartment.

Tony walked into the kitchen, a towel tied round his hips and another on his head that he was using to dry his hair.

"What? I put them all back in the cupboard after I washed them" he walked over to the cupboard that Steve was looking in, taking a look himself.

"There were 6 plates. I can only find 5. Did you break one?"

"No, I promise" he checked the other stack of plates for everyday use. "Where the hell has it gone?"

"Could you call Pepper please, ask her if she's seen it? My phones on the table"

"Sure" Tony hung the extra towel over his shoulder, and dialled her number, putting it on speaker as he rummaged around some more of the cupboards.

"Hello?"

"Hey Pep" he picked up the phone, keeping it on hands free and rummaging through other cupboard with his free hand. "Random question, we've lost one of Steve's plates, y'know, the ones he inherited. Did you see us put it somewhere or something?"

"Tony. You know I don't like it when you lie to me" there was something stern behind her Tone, which both worried and confused the both of them. Steve even turned around to listen, pausing his search for the plate.

"What? When did I lie to you?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"You said you are Steve weren't involved when I asked you"

A blush crept up on Steve's face, reddening quickly. He put his hands over his face in an ill faited attempt to hide his red tinged cheeks. Tony resisted the urge to laugh.

"Pepper, what are you talking about? We're not invovled..."

"If Steve was sleeping in his own bed then you would have found the plate I put under his pillow almost a week ago"

Steve swiftly left the room and Tony threw his head into his hands.

"Pepper. Was that really necessary?"

"Did you really need to lie to me Tony? Why couldn't you tell me that you are in a new relationship?" There was a dissappointed parent element to her voice.

He sighed audibly as Steve entered the doorway with a plate in hand, some pink still lingering on his cheeks.

Pepper giggled over the phone. "Talk to you later" she hung up.

"Oh yeah" she whispered to herself. "I've still got it"

* * *

So this was something I saw on the internet and I thought it would make a cute one-shot. Thank you for reading, and please let me know where I could improve, it helps me grow as a writer.

Reason to review this one-shot

I'd like to know if your parents have ever found out something about you that you didn't want them to know. My friend once blabbed to my parents about something I did at a party when I was very drunk, I won't go into details, but yeah. It was awful, although it's kind of funny to look back on it now


End file.
